Millie had just left while the puppies; Salazar, Jasmine, Burt and Blinky sat outside the house watching the bus as it drives down the road, taking Millie to school. "I hate it when Millie has to go to school" Blinky said, "There is nothing to do while she is gone, except wait for her to come back."

"I know," relied Burt, "Millie is fun and we get to do lots of fun things with her. But it is nice to be able to do what we like while she is gone."

"Like what?" Blinky said.

"Remember when we all went to the lake by ourselves?" Said Salazar, "Now that was a day to remember. We ran down the path to the lake. We had fun checking out all the scents of different animals along the way and even scared old Bandit as he was lying out to sun himself. I don't know who was more shocked, him or us. That was a blast! He chattered on and on about bothering him as we backed away and ran off to the lake."

Jasmine laughed, "I remember that day. We did have some fun, but we also got in trouble and had to get bathes when we got home as miss Millie and Millie's mom were none too pleased with us for swimming in the lake and coming home all dirty."

Burt hung his head, "Momma was not very happy with us either as she gave us a long lecture on not wandering off without letting someone know where we were going. She and Mellissa looked for us a long time, before momma found us at the lake. I still remember how upset and worried she was."

Salazar smiled, remembering, "Yes, but it sure was fun, not having someone around telling us not to do this and not to do that. But you are right, we need to think of something to do that doesn't include getting a bath after."

"I know what I want to do," Said Jasmine. And with that, she turned and walked back to the kitchen door and into the house.

Everyone looked after her as she walked off and then to the house, where she had gone. They stood there for a few minutes wondering what she was going to do. Finally, Blinky said, "Let's go see what Jasmine is going to do. Maybe it will be fun.

They all agreed and ran off to the house and down the hall to Millie's bedroom. At the door, they all looked in and saw that Jasmine was pushing a t-shirt into Millie's white hat with her nose and then putting the hat onto her head. She looked around and asked Burt, "Please tie the string below my chin so this hat will stay on."

Burt shrugged as he looked at the other pups and went over and began tying the string on Millie's hat. When he was done, Jasmine thanked him and went over to the mirror and looked, "That looks fine," she said. She turned around and looked at the other pups, "How do I look?" she asked.

"Like a fool," replied Salazar, with a big grin.

"Oh, he didn't mean that," said Blinky, as she rubbed a paw over her long sleek nose. "What are you wearing Millie's hat for?"

"Because, today, I am going to be Millie, "Jasmine remarked. "Now everybody, listen up. First thing we are going to do is clean up this room. Millie was in a hurry today and left her night dress on the floor, Burt, please take it to the dirty clothes hamper and put it in. Salazar and Blinky, you help me make the bed."

Burt took Millie's night dress and went into the hall and put it in the hamper near the bathroom and came back to the bedroom. He saw that Jasmine, Salazar and Blinky had a corner each of the blanket on the bed and were stretching it out over the bed. He grabbed the last corner and helped pull it out straight and they left the blanket settle down over the bed and it looked pretty good.

Jasmine inspected the bed and nodded her approval, "Great job team!"

"Ah that was easy," remarked Salazar, "What are we going to do now?"

"Well, I was thinking about that and you remember last night when Millie's dad said he wanted Millie to help him clean up the back yard, where the storm a few days ago had knocked down a lot of branched from the trees?" Jasmine said, 'Well, I want us to go out and begin picking up some of the branches and putting them over where they burn the trash."

"That doesn't sound like fun," whined Blinky, as she bent down and rubbed her face on the carpet and took one paw and scratched the side of her face.

"Well it will be." Said Jasmine. She turned and walked toward the door.

Just as she was entering the hallway, Honey walked up and looked at her, "What are you doing with Millie's hat on your head Jasmine?" she asked.

"I am not Jasmine, She replied, "I am Millie! I am taking Salazar, Burt and Blinky to the yard to clean up the sticks and branches that fell during the storm."

Honey looked at her and the other pups and she smiled, "Well, that sounds very nice. Do you want some help?"

"No thank you Ma'am," Jasmine said as she began walking to the kitchen, "We will be okay by ourselves."

With that, the other pups ran after her and out through the kitchen door into the back yard.

Outside, they saw Jasmine sitting in the middle of the yard looking at all the branches and twigs scattered throughout the yard. "Okay, I got it," she said, "Salazar and Burt will be one team, and Blinky and I will be the other team. One pup has to pick up the branch or stick or twig and take it to here. Where the other pup will take it to the burn pile and stack it there. The girls will stack on the left and the boys will stack on the right. After the yard is clear, we will see who has the biggest pile."

'I like that," said Burt, "too bad you girls will lose."

"We'll see about that," said Blinky, "Ready, set, GO!" With that, she took up a branch and dragged it to the center of the yard, where Jasmine took it and pulled it to the burn pit and began the girl's stack, while Blinky ran after another stick and took it to the center of the yard.

Jasmine and the other puppies had a fun day, playing and working in the yard. Sometimes running around with a stick while the others chased, they had a fun day and were very good at clearing most of the trash from the yard. They stopped a few times to get some water or to eat, and then back into the yard, where they played and had more fun picking up the sticks and other things and building their stacks higher and higher.

They heard the sound long before they saw it and they knew that the bus was coming. The unique sound of the brakes as it slowed down to turn the corner at the end of the road. Millie was coming home! They stopped as one and looked down the road. Running at full speed, they headed toward the front yard, where they sat and waited for the bus to appear, bringing their Millie home.

Within minutes, the bus appeared and each of the puppies were excited to tell her of the things they did that day and to listen to her tell them of school and what adventures she had. They turned around as Melissa and Honey came out to meet Millie. Just then the bus pulled up and stopped with a squeal of brakes.

Millie got off the bus with her backpack and ran toward the house, as the puppies ran after her. Millie's mom hugged her and gave her a big kiss, "you will be so proud of your pups as they picked up the whole yard and stacked all the branches and twigs over by the burn pile."

"Oh WOW!" Millie said. She took each puppy in her arms, hugging them and thanking them for being so good and helpful. She picked up Jasmine and gave her a special BIG hug. Looking at the hat, she said, "I can see who took charge of this group and supervised all the work. Maybe with all this extra sticks and branched we can have a small fire after dinner and roast some marshmallows."

Everyone agreed that would be a perfect thank you for all the hard work. Even though it was more fun than work….

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